Thiruvananthapuram: Cancer care facilities will be scaled up at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital here as part of government’s plan to convert the existing radiotherapy department into mini-cancer centre.
While two Cobalt units had been installed earlier, with the setting up of linear accelerator the MCH authorities say they would be able to provide comprehensive cancer care to the patients with modern diagnostic and treatment facilities.
The radiotherapy department which functions as cancer care unit, treats 200 patients daily. Nearly 3000-4000 patients seek treatment at the MCH annually.
At present, most radiotherapy departments at the five medical college hospitals are facing shortage of man and machine. The radiotherapy department at MCH Thiruvan-anthapuram had 14 doctors in 1985. But their numbers diminished gradually.
The medical colleges at Kottayam, Kozhikode, Alappuzha and Thrissur too need more doctors and equipment to treat 15,000 new cases annually.
The installation of Linear Accelerator at the medical college hospital here is expected to provide the much needed facilities for cancer patients in the district. The foundation stone for the project would be laid by health minister K.K. Shailaja on Wednesday.
It may be recalled that the first cancer centre in the government sector was started at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College way back in 1958. The bachelors course was introduced in radiotherapy in 1970 and subsequently the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) was established.
Based on the complaints that the local population was not getting priority in treatment at the RCC because of patient rush, the cancer care wing of the medical college was restarted in 2004. At that time the medical college had just one Cobalt machine. Another Cobalt machine was installed with Central assistance in 2007. With the first machine developing snag, the entire load fell on the second one. Apart from this machine, there is no other radiation treatment facility in the department at the moment.
Doctors say though 3000 patients come for treatment at the department there are not enough facilities to cater to their requirements.
It was after repeated requests from the medical college authorities that the then UDF government set aside '7.45 crore in 2014-15 budget for setting up linear accelerator in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur medical colleges.
With this amount linear accelerator could not have been installed even one medical college. Subsequently an estimate of '35 crore was prepared at the level of Director of Medical Education for which administrative sanction was granted. Besides, '20 crore was granted in 2015-16 budget.
The total amount had now been raised to '27.45 crore. However, with the amount not being sufficient for setting up linear accelerators in two medical colleges, the government issued an order to have it in just one institution. Following the government order, there was a move to neglect Thiruv-ananthapuram Medical College. Medical college teachers and students observed fast on the World Cancer Day in 2016 to protest against the neglect.
In the mean time the agitating teachers and students came to know that Alappuzha and Kozhikode medical colleges had procured Linear accelerators in 2012. The teachers and students urged the DME to provide a similar machine in Trivandrum MCH. It was after the LDF government came to power in 2016 that the MCH dream of getting its own machine became a reality.
